CIL2006


Advanced Weblogs: Applications, Technology, Cases


 

Steven M. Cohen

PubSub Concepts, Inc

stevenmcohen@gmail.com

AOl IM - nylibrarian

Skpye - stevenmcohen

 

 

Presentation URL

http://stevenmcohen.pbwiki.com/CIL2006


 

What We Will Be Talking About Today

 

+ Marketing Your Weblog

+ Guidelines and Policies for Weblogs & RSS Feeds

+ Automatic posting notification systems

+ Weblog Extras, Plug-Ins, Audio Posting

+ Templates

+ Intranet v. Internet

+ Customized RSS Feeds

+ Bookmarking Tools and Folksonomies

+ Library Vendors and RSS


 

Quick, Quick, Quick Intro to Blogs and RSS

 

+ Website, listed chronologically, with written content and links.

+ Most use software for easy publication.

+ Calendars, Permalinks, Archives, RSS, blogroll, comments.

+ Easy Easy Easy Easy Easy…

+ Every blog will have an RSS Feed, but not every RSS feed comes from blogs.

 

 

Examples of blogs

 

+ Library Stuff - http://www.librarystuff.net

+ Resourceshelf - http://www.resourceshelf.com

+ Tame the Web - http://www.tametheweb.com

+ It's All Good - http://scanblog.blogspot.com

 

 

Examples of Feeds

 

 

Legal Feeds

 

 

Government

 

 

 

Examples of RSS Readers

 

+ Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com

+ Net News Wire - http://www.netnewswire.com

+ Newzcrawler - http://www.newzcrawler.com

+ Newsgator - http://www.newsgator.com


 

So You Have a Weblog - Now What?

 

Marketing is Key

+ If a blog is on the web, but nobody is there to read it...

+ Put up a "about this" page

+ The value of a "soft release"

+ Talk to the right people (the ones that make the decisions)

+ Put out a press release

+ Talk to the local newspaper

+ Put it in your newsletter

+ Link to it on your website

+ Use the blogosphere (especially the library blogosphere)

+ Flyers, bookmarks, classes

 

Marketing the Professional Librarian Weblog

 

+ Stand out in the crowd

+ Ease of use

+ Best way to publish without trade publications (on your own terms)

+ Finding your niche

+ Marketing the Librarian

+ Write everyday


 

Guidelines and Policies

 

Professional Librarian Weblogs

 

+ Loose guidelines work best (for me anyway)

+ Does your library know? Will you tell them?

+ Do you put your blog on your resume?

+ Guidelines on comments (Free Range Librarian)

+ Other guidelines from LISNews.


 

Library Weblogs

+ Need to be more in depth (liability)

+ Posting policies for library staff

+ Don't talk about patrons

+ Don't post about staff members

+ Make sure that the information is accurate

+ Is there going to be a holding period for approval?

+ Who gets access?

+ What gets posted? (news, new materials, library events)

+ How often can staff post?

+ Comments? (Spam, moderating)

+ Conversation and community (Ann Arbor Public Library, Teens, Director's Blog)

+ PLA Blog guidelines on a wiki


 

+ Corporate blogging policies

- Feedster

+ Charlene Li

- University of Minnesota - services and guidelines

- McMaster University - RSS Policy

 

 

Discussion - Should libraries have blogging policies?


 

 

Automatic Posting and Notification Systems (APNS)

 

+ Pinging Technology

+ sends notification of new blog post to centralized service

+ Weblogs.com

+ Ping Technorati

+ Ping Feedster

+ Pingoat

+ Ping-o-matic

+ Pings.ws

 

 

Trackback

 

+ Tells you who is linking to your posts.

+ You have to play with Trackback to get it working

+ Some say that trackback is dead (PubSub can do the same thing very easily!)

 

What's so great about APNS?

 

+ Gets your content out into the blogosphere quicker (almost instantaneously)

+ Who is talking about you? Who is linking to you? Feed the ego.

+ Think about marketing again.

+ Cross blog conversation


 

Weblog Extras, Plugins, Templates, Audio Posting, Pictures, Tips

 

+ Macros are extremely important.

+ Easily embedded if you know html or other coding languages (css, javascript)

+ Don't touch those macros!

+ Blogger example

 

 

Plugin Directories

+ http://www.mt-plugins.org

+ Blogger help

+ Wordpress Plugs Wiki


 

Examples of blogs that have gone "the extra step"

+ Thomas Ford Public Library

+ Roselle Public Library Blogger Book Club

+ Hillsdale Library (Blogger)

+ Homer Township Public Library


 

+ Free templates are available.

+ UThink example.

+ Search?

+ Sometimes, the basics are all you need (content is king)

+ Post to your weblog from the road (literally!)

+ Audio posting - The Gates


 

 

Pictures

 

+ Hello

+ Picasa

 

 

Tips and Tricks

+ Using zempt to post to MT blogs

+ Make sure to include contact information on your blog

+ Link back to your home page

+ Add a catalog search box on the blog (Johnson County Library)

+ IM presence - (Lansing Library)


 

Internet v. Intranet

 

+ Weblogs can be useful in both situations (What are you trying to accomplish?)

 

Internet

 

+ Great for Library Web pages.

+ Library News

+ FARQ

+ New Acquisitions

+ Book Clubs

+ Backend CMS only

 

Intranet

 

+ Communication among staff, libraries, consortia

+ Backend CMS only

+ "We've shifted books again"; "The biographies are on the second floor now"

+ Everyone is involved

+ Meeting/event planning

+ Project Management

 

Discussion: Will weblogs work on my Internet/Intranet? Why not? - DISCUSS


 

 

How to display RSS feeds.

 

+ Feed2js

+ Magpie

+ RSS Mix

Can't get everything via RSS

 

 

Customize Customize Customize.

 

 

RSS @ Your Library

 

+ Oklahoma University Library

+ RIT Libraries

+ Kelvin Smith Library

+ New Books

+ Library Elf

+ University of Alberta (NEOS)

+ Hennepin County Public Library

+ Edmonton Public Library

+ More from Hennepin County

+ Kansas City Public Library

+ Shiny Happy Patrons

+ Shiny Hacky Patrons